Chương 382: Chapter 372 - A Castle in The Sky

Up ahead, rising out of the vast cloudy expanse, stood a castle. Not a crude fort or a wooden keep, but a full medieval stronghold. Thick stone curtain walls wrapped around the main structure, each block the size of a wagon. Four round towers anchored the corners, capped with conical roofs of slate-blue tile. Despite the drifting clouds, the structure looked solid, ancient, and very stable. However, one thing stood out more than anything else.

"It's huge!" Ayu's eyes widened. She had to tilt her head nearly straight up to see the highest battlements.

"So the legend is true," Lukas said with a laugh.

"There really is a castle in the sky." Chiara studied it with quiet fascination. It seemed the Tower truly had borrowed from an Earth tale. Curious. Alonso hovered in place through his waves, adjusting his position. Then he noticed Ayu. She was standing on the cloud itself. He lowered slowly to test it. The clouds beneath him felt soft at first, like compacted foam, but as he pressed down further, the surface stiffened, holding his weight. It was shockingly stable. And his weight was no small thing.

With his current mass and the stage's gravity, he was exerting the force of several tons by Earth's measure. Yet the cloud held as though it were nothing. He shifted his stance experimentally. The surface flexed ever so slightly, then steadied. Ayu tapped her foot on the cloud and smirked.

"Feels weird but nice." Alonso exhaled in amazement as he took a proper step across the misty ground and stared at the strange, fantasy-like castle. And as he did, his eyes narrowed. He felt a presence… no, several presences inside. His hand moved instinctively to the hilt of his swords. He signalled the others and waited. And then it came. A massive silhouette emerged through the cloud haze. A sort of guard stepped out onto the battlements, though "stepped" felt far too small a word.

He stood well over ten metres tall, clad in steel plates hammered together like ship hulls. His helm was dented, his beard plaited with iron rings, and a colossal spear rested over one shoulder as if it weighed nothing at all. He peered down at them, killing intent clear in his eyes. Another giant appeared beside him a moment later. This one carried a shield the size of a wagon and an axe carved from something that looked disturbingly like a petrified tree.

Alonso studied their expressions, searching for anything beyond bloodlust. Some hint of curiosity, hesitation… anything. But there was nothing. He had half expected humanoid creatures like these to speak, shout challenges, maybe even taunt them. Yet the entities inside the Dungeon seemed to be very different from the natives outside. They had only one purpose. Kill the intruders. Alonso remained still, blades loose at his sides, as the Giants leapt from the fortress walls.

The cloudy terrain bent under the massive weight. A shockwave of air rushed toward him, lifting his hair and coat, yet he did not move. He felt the shift beside him. The familiar warmth of Ayu's Will brushed his senses as the spectral tiger took shape behind her. Its outline rippled with primal force, stripes of golden light threading through the air. Ayu inhaled slowly. The world inhaled with her. Then everything moved. The first Giant roared and charged, each footfall splitting the clouds like cracked ice.

It raised its axe high, killing intent pouring off it like heat from a furnace. Ayu vanished. For a heartbeat the battlefield fell silent except for the faint hum of her footsteps carried by the world itself. A ripple cut across the Giants' ankles as she flashed behind them, both bone daggers trailing a razor-thin arc of light. Blood sprayed in twisting ribbons. The Giant stumbled, confused by the sudden loss of balance, and swung blindly.

Ayu was already above its arm, spectral tiger fangs overlaying her daggers as she cut through the thick tendons near its wrist. The limb buckled, weapon dropping from useless fingers. The second Giant lumbered in with a stomp that shook the sky. Ayu touched the ground, letting the flexible surface steady her stance, then shot upward. She spun along the armoured forearm, carving overlapping cuts across the bicep and shoulder. Each strike stole strength from the giant limb. It roared and tried to swat her.

She flowed under the strike, riding the shifting air the way the tiger spirit rode the wind. Her daggers crossed under its chin. A fine red mist drifted outward. The Giant collapsed to one knee, choking. The first Giant attempted to grab her with both hands, its massive fingers closing around nothing but afterimages. Ayu danced through the gaps, feet touching the flexible clouds in short bursts as the world seemed to give her the exact traction she needed. She slashed the tendons at the back of its knees.

The Giant fell forward, the impact sending a wave through the clouds. Before it hit fully, Ayu was already on its back. The tiger behind her let out a silent snarl as she plunged both daggers into the base of its skull. The creature convulsed once and then fell still, dissolving into drifting motes. The last Giant tried a desperate attack, dragging its axe and gouging deep trenches across the clouds. It swung wildly, driven by nothing but the urge to crush. Ayu tilted her head.

Her eyes glowed faintly, the tiger behind her mirroring the light in its own. She sprinted forward. Her form blurred into amber streaks. The wind curled behind her like a guiding hand. She slipped past the incoming swing with effortless precision, merging the dodge and her counterattack into one smooth, almost instinctive motion. She severed one hamstring. She severed the other. She ran up the Giant's body as if climbing a leaning tower and drove one dagger into the side of its neck.

Her free hand carved a clean line across the throat in a swift horizontal cut. The Giant toppled and dissolved into drifting motes. Ayu landed lightly on the cloud field, the spectral tiger fading behind her. She flicked blood from her dagger and rolled her shoulders as if she had just taken a short jog. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The world went quiet, save for the faint hiss of her breath.

Ayu wiped a streak of blood from her cheek with the back of her hand. Alonso stood in silence as he watched the scene settle. The Giants had shown a Power Index of 1330, more than twice the creatures below, yet… nothing within him stirred. If he mapped it to last stage, these giants fell somewhere between a Warden and an Overseer. Extrapolating further, Overseers should land closer to 2000. As for the seven-tails… maybe around 7000?

"I got one just like yours." Ayu grinned as she lifted a leather vambrace as if it were a Christmas gift, despite the blood still streaked across her armour. Alonso shook his head, though a flicker of surprise crossed his face. It was indeed an exact duplicate of his own. Were Dungeon drops limited in type? He stepped closer and saw that each giant had dropped more than an orb. Lying beside the glowing spheres were unfamiliar objects.

Grade 01 - Cloud-Iron Scraps Tempering Material Grade 01 - Skyfibre Twine Tempering Material The first looked like a shard of pale metal, as if forged from compressed mist. The second was a coil of faintly shimmering fibre, green-white strands braided together like plant sinew.

"Well, what's this?" Lukas muttered as he flew toward them and lifted the twine between two fingers, letting the fibres catch the light. He frowned, then looked at Alonso.

"I can only see the name. What about you?"

"It says it's a tempering material."

"Oh… I see." Lukas nodded slowly.

"So it ties into that, huh. Guess we'll find out more once we reach the settlement."

"Only zero point one!" Ayu's eyes widened after absorbing one of the Giant's orbs. Alonso laughed. The Tower clearly rewarded risk, and this… was honestly not a challenge for them. He had not expected much from the orb either." Maybe let Pablo keep the other one," he transmitted to Ayu.

"Sure," she sent back. She planted a controlled step beside the remaining orb, flicked it upward from the tension response, and then tapped it mid-air with her dagger, sending it toward Pablo without ever touching it herself. Pablo flinched, caught off guard, but managed to stabilise the orb with his control.

"This… should I try summoning it?"

"Maybe just keep it for now," Alonso said.

"They're stronger than your Wardens, so this should be your best summon right now. Save it for emergencies." Pablo nodded and glanced at Ayu.

"Thanks." Ayu waved a hand dismissively. Alonso turned to the last piece of gear that had dropped. A leather helmet. Ayu did not even look at it. As for him… the aesthetic was putting him off for once. Just a bit. Maybe he would pass on this one.

"Does anyone want this?" Leonie's eyes widened.

"Ayu is not going to take it?"

"Nope," Ayu said instantly, not a shred of hesitation. Leonie stared at the helmet. The extra 1% was tempting, but the thing did not fit her style in the slightest.

"Pablo?" she asked.

"Huh? Me?"

"Your summons benefit from your gear," she pointed out.

"So you would make the best use of it." Pablo sighed, resigned, and picked it up. He had no idea how this had ended up in his hands, but strength was strength. Alonso looked toward the castle as Ayu drifted closer beside him.

"There are more inside," she said, ears and instincts already picking up movement.

"Do you want to handle them too?"

"If no one else wants to." She shrugged. Alonso nodded. Maybe it was time for others to take the lead. And more than Leonie and Pablo, there was someone he wanted to see fight again. He turned to Imani with a grin.

"Want a warm-up?" Imani adjusted his shield and nodded once.

"Why not." Without further delay, the group leapt or flew upward, alighting atop the castle walls—just as the air split with a violent whistle. A giant arrow hurtled toward them at blinding speed. Alonso did not flinch. BOOM! Imani's shield slammed into it, the impact crackling like thunder as the massive projectile shattered, exploding into splinters that rained down across the clouds below. The Giant archer across the battlements grunted and reached for another arrow.

On the far edges of the fort, Alonso spotted three more Giants—two already charging, one bracing for an attack. Imani stepped forward, planting one foot on the heavy stone below. His breath sank low in his chest. Then the change hit. Fury surged through him like a furnace being opened. His frame expanded, muscles coiling thick under the skin, veins rising like dark cords. The already massive man, just past two metres, seemed to grow broader, denser, his silhouette edging into something closer to a walking fortress.

And then he moved. A blur. He slammed into the nearest Giant before the massive creature had even finished drawing his next arrow. The hammer connected square with its ribs. CRACK! The sound rattled the battlements. The Giant's eyes bulged as its chest folded inward, the force lifting it off its feet and flinging it back several metres. Bones snapped. Armour buckled. The Giant hit the wall behind with a thunderous impact and collapsed in a heap that did not rise. Imani did not pause.

A spear screamed toward him from the right, driven by another Giant charging with full weight. The tip struck his shield. The metal creaked. Imani's stance did not. He absorbed the full kinetic force through his body, the shock rippling through his frame with a low, guttural hum as his Awakening drank the impact like water. Then he released it. His hammer swung. The stored force detonated through the weapon as it smashed into the Giant's thigh. The limb snapped like rotten wood.

The creature toppled sideways with a howl, and Imani stepped into the collapse, shield raised, hammer already coming down again. One blow to the skull. A dull, final crunch. Silence. The third Giant hesitated. Imani charged. Their weapons clashed, hammer against a massive cleaver. Sparks sprayed across the clouds. The Giant pushed, towering over him, strength multiplied by sheer mass. Imani held. Fury kept his muscles locked like steel cables.

He absorbed the cleaver's weight, the pressure straining his arms— —and released the force up through the shield, punching it into the Giant's wrist. The limb recoiled violently, joints wrenching apart. Before the creature could recover, Imani vaulted forward with surprising agility, scaling its lowered arm, sprinting up the Giant's forearm like a siege assault given flesh. He brought the hammer down across its jaw. The Giant's head snapped sideways. It staggered, disoriented, and took a knee.

Imani dropped down, both hands on the hammer, and with a final grounded roar he drove it straight into the Giant's temple. The castle trembled as the body fell. Only one more remained. Another archer. It loosed an arrow the size of a tree trunk. Imani braced, planted both feet in the ground— —and caught the damn thing with his bare hands. The force shoved him back an inch. Only an inch. He absorbed it, shoulders tightening. Then he launched it back.

With a twist of his entire body anchored through the ground, cracking the massive stone bricks beneath him, he redirected the absorbed momentum and sent the colossal arrow back like a javelin toward the archer. It struck the Giant dead in the chest. The impact hurled the ten-metre-tall archer backward, smashing him through his own battlement wall in a thunderous explosion of debris and metal shards. Imani exhaled, steam rising from his skin. The four Giants were dead. Alonso surveyed the aftermath.

A small part of him felt disappointed that Imani had chosen Fury instead of Primal Flow. He had hoped to see whether Imani could project something with his Will, perhaps manifest a different beast the way Ayu channelled her tiger. But even so... damn. Imani under Fury was no joke. Alonso found himself wondering how far the man could have gone had he trained in the Extreme Body Path and the beastmen ways back on the previous stage. He would have shined much more." Nice one," Alonso transmitted.

Imani responded with a curt nod, calm as ever, as if he had not just dismantled four ten-metre warriors alone. Suddenly a deep rumble shook the air. It came from the castle's central keep. A heartbeat later, the massive wooden gates exploded outward. Planks, iron bolts and splinters blasted across the courtyard in a shockwave that felt like the aftermath of a bomb. The whole castle trembled. The sky itself seemed to dip. A colossal silhouette stepped through the smoke. Twelve metres tall.

Armour thicker than a ship's hull. A jaw braided with golden rings. Each footfall made the clouds ripple like water hit by a falling boulder. He raised a club carved from a whole tree trunk and slammed its base against the ground, the sound echoing for kilometres. Alonso's eyes narrowed as a prompt flashed before him. Brunnrath the Highbreaker Power Index: 2800